The new Ternstroemia cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in Independence, La. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Ternstroemia gymnanthera varieties for landscape use. The open pollination resulting in this new variety was made during the Fall of 2008. The seed parent variety is an unnamed, unpatented Ternstroemia gymnanthera. The pollen parent is unidentified.
After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor first propagated ‘BLTG01’ by terminal vegetative cuttings during the Summer of at the same commercial nursery in Independence, La. The inventor continued controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. At least three generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.